Spratly Islands|
Chinese name|
Traditional Chinese| 南沙群島|
Simplified Chinese| 南沙群岛|
[show]Transcriptions||
Vietnamese name|
Quốc ngữ| Quần Đảo Trường Sa|
Hán tự| 群島長沙|
Malay name|
Malay| Kepulauan Spratly|
Filipino name|
Tagalog| Kapuluan ng Kalayaan|The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs,[2] islets, atolls, cays andislands in the South China Sea. The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippinesand Malaysia (Sabah), about one third of the way from there to southern Vietnam. They contain less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea. The Spratlys are one of three archipelagos of the South China Sea which comprise more than 30,000 islands and reefs and which complicate governance and economics in that region of Southeast Asia. Such small and remote islands have little economic value in themselves, but are important...